All About ARCHITECTURE

THE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF THE AUSTRALIAN ARCHITECTURE ASSOCIATION Volume 2 Number 8September 2011

VOLUNTEER IN PROFILE

Unseen Dupain

The Eames House

PLACES | PEOPLE | NEWS | TOURS | EVENTS

Sunshine Coast Architecture Tour

President’s Letter

All About Architecture is published monthly (except January) by:

Australian Architecture Association ABN: 63 899 489 146

PO Box 288 Sydney NSW 2001

Editor: Kate St James, FDIA

Contributors: Zeny Edwards, Chris Hoyt, Vanessa Couzens

Cover: The Eames HouseCover Design: Kate St James

Editorial contributions are welcome. For more information email: info@architecture.org.au

Advertising: For advertising rates and distribution email: info@architecture.org.au Opinions or views expressed do not necessarily represent those of the editor or publisher.

SPONSORS & CORPORATE MEMBERS

AAA would like to thank its sponsors and corporate members for their ongoing support of the Association.

Spring is here at last and what better time of the year to enjoy our walking tours around Sydney, especially now that we can also enjoy the lighter evenings on our twilight tours.

October is a particularly busy month for architecture with the Sydney Architecture Festival in full swing and so many events to attend. Be sure to take advantage of all that’s on offer.

The recent Sunshine Coast Residential Bus Tour was a great success. AAA Founding Director, Annette Dearing and volunteer, Vanessa Couzens escorted guests through eight houses over the two days accompanied by the architects. Vanessa’s review and photos from the tour starts on page 10.

Another exciting AAA event is the exhibition, Unseen Dupain, which will be held at Tusculum from 20th to 30th October. Max Dupain was one of Harry Seilder’s favourite photogaphers and they also became great friends. This exhibition, is curated by architectural historian, Dr Zeny Edwards and includes images from over 1,000 photographs of Australian architecture covering a period of more than 50 years.

This issue our volunteer in profile is architect and tour guide, Michael MacCormick who joined the AAA to share his enthusiasm with the public and to benefit from the architectural experiences offered by the AAA.

Enjoy this issue.

Kate St James, FDIAPresident

NEWS-EVENTS-TOURS-NEWS-EVENTS-TOURS-NEWS

3

• Sydney City Architecture Walk Saturday, September 24, 201110:00 AM to 12:00 PM• Surry Hills Walk Sunday, September 25, 20112:00 PM to 4:00 PM• Sydney City Architecture Walk Saturday, October 01, 201110:00 AM to 12:00 PM• Twilight City Architecture Walk Wednesday, October 05, 20116:00 PM to 7:30 PM• Sculpture of the City Architecture Experience Saturday, October 08, 20112:00 PM to 4:00 PM• Sydney City Architecture Walk Saturday, October 08, 201110:00 AM to 12:00 PM• Twilight City Architecture Walk Wednesday, October 12, 20116:00 PM to 7:30 PM• Sydney City Architecture Walk Saturday, October 15, 201110:00 AM to 12:00 PM• Twilight City Architecture Walk Wednesday, October 19, 20116:00 PM to 7:30 PM• Sydney City Architecture Walk Saturday, October 22, 201110:00 AM to 12:00 PM• Sydney City Bar TourTuesday, October 25, 20116PM - 7:30PM •Twilight City Architecture WalkWednesday, October 26, 20116PM - 7.30PM• Sydney City Architecture WalkSaturday, October 29, 201110:00AM - 12:00PM

Bookings: www.architecture.org.au

NEWS-EVENTS-TOURS-NEWS-EVENTS-TOURS-NEWS

Michael MacCormick studied architecture at the University of NSW graduating with honours in 1998. Further studies abroad at the Techniska Hogskolan in Stockholm, Sweden, encouraged several other trips abroad and around Australia to document the local architecture. Following his study in Stockholm, he worked in Stuttgart, Germany returning to Australia where he worked for a number of local architectural firms prior to establishing MacCormick + Simonian Architects, of which he was a principal partner for nine years. In 2011, Michael established MacCormick & Associates Architects, (MAA), a boutique architecture practice specialising in high-end single and multi-residential architecture.

“I have a genuine interest in understanding how my clients actually live out the ‘everyday’, how they use their home, and how they wish to use their home, rather than implementing preconceived ways of doing things” he said. “Only by doing this can a home truly fit the client. This requires observing, listening and questioning at each stage of the works to understand their ‘every day’. The practice then works to harmonise the practical and the aesthetic to deliver the right solution.”

Michael’s interest in promoting good design in the community at large resulted in his involvement in the Australian Architecture Association (AAA) as one of the inaugural guides for tours of Sydney.

Originally hearing about the AAA during a radio interview with the founding president, Glenn Murcutt on the ABCs “By Design”, Michael considered that the AAA represented a great opportunity to learn more about Sydney’s architecture outside of his practice. He joined the AAA as a volunteer tour guide to share his enthusiasm with the public and to benefit from the architectural experiences, including tours and talks that the AAA offered. Michael says that improving his ability to confidently talk to a crowd has also been one of the happy benefits of leading the tours.

In defining space, Michael believes in entertaining the eye and encouraging it to trace around and beyond one’s space, like movement over an art work. He also likes the tectonics of the architecture to engage with all the senses, not just seeing. ‘In these ways, one creates ‘joy’ in the architecture, something more than the sum of its elemental parts. They are nuances of the architecture that reveal themselves in little discoveries over time.”

Volunteer in Profile

Michael MacCormick is an experienced architect with a background in high-end residential design and institutional works.

“I have a genuine interest in understanding how my clients actually live out the ‘everyday’, how they use their home, and how they wish to use their home, rather than implementing preconceived ways of doing things”

NEWS-EVENTS-TOURS-NEWS-EVENTS-TOURS-NEWSNEWS-EVENTS-TOURS-NEWS-EVENTS-TOURS-NEWS

The Escarpa apartment development by Maccormick Simonian Architects with Michael as the design and project architect, recently won at the Mosman Design Awards, both the contribution to the built environment award, and the people’s choice award.

Bantry House, Mosman

NEWS-EVENTS-TOURS-NEWS-EVENTS-TOURS-NEWS

7

Dupain’s geographic world had Sydney as its heart and its pulses radiated from the harbour, particularly around Circular Quay, the Bond Street studio, the city’s CBD and the Sydney Harbour Bridge.Dupain was fascinated with photographing from unusual angles and extraordinary perspectives. With a god’s-eye view, his photographs became intriguing and breathtaking, sometimes half-hidden by shadowsbut always mystified by distance. The moment to pull the shutter was always determined by the way in which the light fell. He preferred the ‘raking light’ of early morning or late afternoon. Sometimes, with acompass he would watch a building and track the movement of the sun to predict when the light would be ‘just right’.IIn 1989, Dupain gave the RAIA over 1,000 photographs of Australian architecture covering a period of more than 50 years. He believed that the photographs should be in an architectural archive and that the RAIA was the rightful place for it. The photographs form the basis of an invaluable collection, and of buildings that have been demolished, a poignant, and perhaps only, record of their existence.Some of those photographs are now exhibited here for the very first time.

MAXWELL SPENCER DUPAIN (1911-1992)

Max Dupain always had a hankering for architecture. In his youth and later in school, his interest in the practical application of material to structural purposes made him think seriously about becoming an architect. But mathematics and physics were his ‘undoing’. He was thrown at any attempt to understand either – the logic of it all was shrouded in a mist.Architecture was discounted on a technicality. Eventually there developed another way of gettinginvolved – through photography, and his interest became intense enough to concentrate on

and promote this specialised field in the 1950s. He was encouraged by architect Samuel Lipson (his first client), John D. Moore and Walter Bunning; he developed friendships with Sydney Ancher, Arthur Baldwinson and Harry Seidler. Dupain’s pictorial documentation of Sydney’s architecture provides a comprehensive record of a city’s progress through the 20th Century.

Exhibition Coordinator and Curator:Dr Zeny Edwards

Curatorial SupportAnne HighamCarmen MasryResearchAnne HighamEric Sierins

Graphic Design:Dianna WuAlexia Estrellado

‘It is all a matter of form and movement’. This statement by Henry Gibbons was so inspirational to Dupain that it became his guiding principle.To Dupain, visual involvement was ‘the beginning and end’ of the process which the photographic eye instigated from the first visual contact with the subject.

“You don’t have to probe, you get a whack in the eye straight away. One of the most important things about photography is that the moment you see a thing, you translate it into a photographic image. It becomes a light picture immediately. The print is there in your mind even before you’ve processed the negatives.”

Max Dupain

UNSEEN DUPAIN

20-30 OCTOBER 2011AIA, TUSCULUM,

3 MANNING STREET, POTTS POINTOPENING 20 OCTOBER 2011

NEWS-EVENTS-TOURS-NEWS-EVENTS-TOURS-NEWSNEWS-EVENTS-TOURS-NEWS-EVENTS-TOURS-NEWS

8

‘In Conversation With’ will explore the professional relationship and the friendship that developed between Seidler and Dupain, how the two bounced ideas off each other on how to take good architectural photographs by taking advantage of light, angles and perspective. The results were often works of art. Dupain’s photographs of Seidler’s buildings will be shown including Australian embassy in Paris, Australia Square, the Seidler residence in Killara, Harry Seidler and Aassociates office at 2 Glen Street Milsons Point and Rose Seidler house.

‘Dupain elevates the images to the level of works of art. He does all this just as a painter’s texture of brushstroke with masterful technical control in his laboratory.’

Harry Seidler, 1989

DAVID MARR IN CONVERSATION WITH PENELOPE SEIDLER AND JILL WHITE ‘MAX DUPAIN AND HARRY SEIDLER: ON PHOTOGRAPHY AND ARCHITECTURE’

27 OCTOBER 2011AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS, TUSCULUM, 3 MANNING STREET, POTTS POINT

6.00 FOR 6.30PM - 8.30PM

NEWS-EVENTS-TOURS-NEWS-EVENTS-TOURS-NEWS

I recently had the good fortune to visit the Eames House in Pacific Palisades, California. As a young designer influenced by the Eameses, the visit left me with a new perspective. While Charles and Ray were legendary designers, they were also husband and wife, grandparents, and friends, who spent years turning the house into a comforting, familiar place. It is the Eames home more than it is the Eames House.

While the home has been preserved, nothing has been restored. It is just as Charles and Ray intended. It feels warm, inviting and has the patina of use: the paint is chipped, the dinner bell is rusty, and the leather on the lounge chair and ottoman is cracked from sitting. Their collections are on display everywhere. It couldn’t feel more different than the sleek, museum-like interiors that we see their furniture featured in today.

Throughout, there are examples of Eames design–but not the ones you and I know. A patio table built from the base of their famous ottoman sits outside, probably a little rustier than when they used it; a walnut stool became a Lazy Susan holding a TV; and a plant is perched on top of

an extra, extra tall modified table base. They simply used what they had to make what they needed.

Outside, old trucks and other toys litter the yard and in the corner are remains of a wooden fort built for the grandchildren.

Visiting the home of Charles and Ray Eames and glimpsing into their life together transformed two design icons into people, who, in many ways, were just like you and me.

www.hermanmiller.com

A graduate of the College for Creative Studies in Industrial Design, Christopher helps the Herman Miller Research team creatively communicate the results of their work to internal and external customers.

More Than a House, an Eames HomeBy Chris Hoyt

Outside, old trucks and other toys litter the yard and in the corner are remains of a wooden fort built for the grandchildren.

10

When architects talk about the ‘vernacular’ or ‘regionalist architecture’, they are generally talking about a style that is particular to a region or country. For example, when one talks about houses in Queensland, the quintessential image the average person envisages is that of a traditional Queenslander: The raised construction to encourage natural ventilation, extensive use of timber, high ceilings and encompassing verandahs that form an essential secondary space for habitation.

It is this perception of a region’s style that encapsulates the theme of a recent residential tour by the Australian Architecture Association. The tour held in the Noosa area explored how contemporary architecture adapts in response to the changing cultural traditions and pragmatic values of society, while becoming situated in the regional requirements of it’s environment.

In contemporary architecture there may be a commonality of architectural detail that allows us to classify a particular style, that operates irrespective of location. However, on closer inspection, perculairities begin to emerge within these styles that can’t be explained just by historical or popular global trends.

Stylistically contemporary architects tend to draw on the unifying aesthetics of twentieth century modernism. However this aesthetic has evolved through the utilization of contemporary construction techniques, with the injection of the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries push for sustainability.

The Noosa Residential Tour provided the opportunity to explore residential projects by five contemporary architectural practices, all based in Queensland. Eight projects were included over the course of two days. Attendees gained an insight into the client brief and design considerations of the architects, who met with the group at each of the projects.

Taking part in the tour were:

Yee Jien and Richard Kirk of Richard Kirk Architects, Lindy Atkin and Stephen Gurhrie of Bark Design, Bud Brannigan of Bud Brannigan Architects, Jolyon Robinson and Kenneth Robinson of Robinson Architects, John Mainwaring of JMW Architects

Adding to this fascinating experience were contributions by the clients and caretakers of the buildings.

While each of the projects included were individual responses to their client’s specific requirements, there were themes that repeated across the spectrum of projects. These included:

- The continuation of the tradition to utilise local materials such as timber and local stone.

- The use of operable large openings in the buildings facades and high ceilings to encourage natural ventilation, cooling interior spaces.

Contemporary Queensland Vernacular

Exploring Architectural Residential Design in the Noosa Region

by Vanessa Couzens

Bark Design – Maleny Residence

11

- Expansive overhangs orientated to shade interiors and outdoor living spaces in summer, yet allow solar access in the cooler winter months.

- Use of modern construction technology in conjunction with more traditional construction methods and materials.

- And most notably, a preoccupation with the surrounding environment and how contemporary architecture can meet the pragmatic needs of the client while responding to the project’s surroundings.

Project 1: Richard Kirk Architect - Tinbeerwah ResidenceBuilt for a client based in London, this outstanding holiday residence sits within eighty acres of lush semi-tropical landscape. Kangaroos graze on the meadow fronting onto the residence and the occasional wild deer appears out of the dense surrounding vegetation.

The defining feature of this home is it’s soaring skillion roof that creates a double height living space that spills out into a covered outdoor living space. This living space is centred along the axis of the building and separates two wings with a second level. Bedrooms are located in the upper levels and in the lower level of the entry wing is located an intimate sitting space and dining space. On the opposite end the lower level is divided into a space for the private enjoyment of the building’s caretaker.

The extensive linings of timber panels on walls, ceilings and overhangs give the residence a sense of warmth and connectedness to nature.

Project 2: Bark Design – Bark Design Studio, Tinbeerwah

Nestled carefully between two large gum trees, sits the steel and glass studio of Bark Design. Built on the side of a hill the practice’s employees get to enjoy on a daily basis a connectedness with the surrounding landscape with outstanding views across the valley. Large glazed doors and fully operable windows with externally mounted shading blinds allow the building’s users to fully control the

interior environment, while the overhanging tin roof creates a pleasant covered entrance deck and controls the level of sunlight through the seasons.

Project 3: Bark Design – Tinbeerwah Residence

A short walk away is a residence built to house a young family and separate artist’s studio for the upcoming painter Stefan Dunlop. Enjoying the same sweeping views as Bark Design Studio, the house and art studio are elevated above ground level to accommodate the steep incline of the site and capitalize on natural ventilation as well as control the ingress of sunlight. The bedroom spaces are elevated and look down upon and through the informal double height space of the open plan living / dining / kitchen.

Project 4: Bud Brannigan Architects – Peregian Beach Residence

Overlooking a beachside reserve, this home was built to accommodate a couple eager to enjoy the outdoor lifestyle of Queensland. Constructed predominately from steel, with timber screening protecting the western face from the heat of the afternoon sun, the house is designed to open out to the breezes, capitalize on the view of the surroundings, yet provide privacy from the neighbours either side. On a sloping site, the house has three levels connected by an airy stair and double height entrance core. The large stacking sliding doors, operable walls of louvres and windows, give the house a true sense of the outdoors tangibly linked with the indoors.

Project 5: Robinson Architects – Marcus Beach Residence

This residence was designed for a semi-retired couple. Stepping down the sloping site, the house has been divided into two wings. The street face wing comprises an elevated bedroom, ancillary space that views onto the ocean with the garage nestled below. The second wing is given privacy by the inclusion of two internal courtyards divided by a dining space that connects the two. This dining space is fitted with industrial automated doors that

Bark Design – Bark Design Studio, Tinbeerwah

Bud Brannigan Architects – Peregian Beach Residence

open both sides to the quiet courtyards. The second wing contains the main living spaces and the master bedroom over two levels. Steel construction allowed the architects to cantilever off the living room above the ground level and act as a protective overhang for the ground floor deck. Looking up from the beach reserve side garden, the house hovers elegantly over the landscape.

Project 6: Bark Design – Sunshine Beach Residence

Built to house a family, one of the major requirements for the client was to obtain a sense of privacy from the surrounding residences while still enjoying a connection with the exterior environment.

The linear residence achieves a sense of space and interconnectedness with the outdoors by lining up the covered outdoor living space with the double height interior open plan kitchen / dining and lounge. Bedrooms and wet areas for the children are tucked away on the second level and a bridge floating over the living space connects the parents to their private bedroom. The linear parallel arrangement of the internal living and outdoor space with adjoining lap pool creates a sense of the interiors flowing into the exteriors.

Project 7: JMW Architects – Viridian Development, Noosa Heads

Nestled among lush semi-tropical forest reserve on the former site of banana plantations, the Viridian development comprises, individual residences, apartments and hotel

facilities. Planned to follow the line of the valley between two slopes, the development carefully follows the urban design principles of a dense central core of built elements that fan out along the axis of the valley, hugging the contours of the steeply sloping site. Views toward the ocean and the surrounding greenery are carefully incorporated into the planning. Natural ventilation and the ability to open interiors to outdoor spaces have been incorporated into the design. Despite its close proximity to the bustling commercial district of Hastings Street, the development has a sense of isolation and privacy.

Project 8: Bark Design – Maleny Residence

Designed for a family immigrating to Australia from Romania. This residence is a project that combines the stylistic influences of Japanese traditional architecture with modern ideas about transparency and the utilization of technology. Located on the busy road into Maleny, thick stone walls muffle noise from the street and create a private central courtyard. The house is pushed up against the property boundary along the ridge of the hill and provides panoramic views towards the Glass House Mountains and coast beyond. Functions of the house are divided into a series of pavilions linked by transparent walkways that open to take advantage of cooling breezes or close to protect interiors, yet allow light into the spaces. A separate guest house / music studio, showcases the architect’s experiment with standardization and modularization of components, creating an area guests would be reluctant to leave.

12

While each of the projects included were individual responses to their client’s specific requirements, there were themes that repeated across the spectrum of projects.

JMW Architects – Viridian Development, Noosa Heads

Bark Design – Sunshine Beach Residence

Robinson Architects – Marcus Beach Residence

Richard Kirk Architect - Tinbeerwah Residence

Luxury Home Design is a superior residential design publication dedicated to providing readers with a comprehensive overview of new developments and design directions in the upper end of the home design market. Luxury Home Design features distinguished ideas and the latest trends and showcases the work of some of Australia’s most talented architects, designers, builders and artists to help you with your quest to create the perfect home.

and selected bookstores.

vol.2 on sale now in newsagents

designing your future.